Every 15.4" WSXGA+ (LG, Samsung, something from Z60m) or WUXGA (stock W500, or Dell Sharp) screen I've seen has, except for minimal washing out, just about 180 degree horizontal viewing angle clarity, I can recognize the Thinkpad Forum and the colors of my Bliss background with my laptop turned. The T500's 1280x800 screens, however, are crap. Upper viewing angles are better than lower viewing angles, but they're both much, naturally, bad and a Flexview is infinitely better.

Apparently there are some not-great IPS panels, maybe cheaper ones from new cheap laptops, that I can imagine the 15.4" WSXGA+s can compete with. These are great panels.

All that is very interesting, seems maybe it's one of the 'better' TN... What's this 'moninfo' and how does one use it? Mind that that Inspiron is with Linux, I have remote acces to it but now Windows tools.

You could always just get the Chromebook Pixel and install Linux on it. All the reviewers say that the hardware is perfect, but the software isn't. So if you install your favourite Linux distro, you should, at least in theory, get the perfect laptop. I'll try doing this once I get to the US.

You can get pretty far using Google Translate on it, bottom line is that some guy notified everyone about a meeting of (presumably) Lenovo technicians concerning the retro. The news seems to be from March, and the said meeting must've occured before. The guy presented his argumentation about how it is unlikely the modern Thinkpad lines will reverse to good ol' features, and it's more likely they'll "engrave" (which is the google's translation for produce in Chinese, I guess) some one-shot series of x301 or whatever. He said they're evaluating how this be done, e.g. what to do with extra space inside the laptop. For example it could get ginormous battery life if they decided on stuffing in batteries, etc. 16:10 screen was mentioned.
The rest of the thread is basically, salivating fanboys - much like we do here.
Problem is, I/we have no way of knowing who the OP was, what's his connection to Lenovo, etc. As it is, this is little more than gossip, even if some photos were indeed presented.

fatpolomanjr wrote:I love that there are some 3:2 display laptops or hybrids out there, such as the Surface Book and Chromebook Pixel, but what always gets me is the lack of a trackpoint. Every time.

Would this work: get a 3:2 or even 4:3 Windows tablet, and plug in a Thinkpad USB keyboard? In fact, if you want a really tall screen, use the tablet in portrait orientation. A huge advantage of tablets over laptops is that you can rotate them. Desktop monitors that can rotate also have this advantage over laptops.

pianowizard wrote:Would this work: get a 3:2 or even 4:3 Windows tablet, and plug in a Thinkpad USB keyboard? In fact, if you want a really tall screen, use the tablet in portrait orientation. A huge advantage of tablets over laptops is that you can rotate them. Desktop monitors that can rotate also have this advantage over laptops.

If I truly wanted a hybrid with a 3:2 display that absolutely had to have a trackpoint then I would go for an X1 Tablet. However, I simply prefer the laptop form factor much more these days. Especially since laptops usually have extra ports and performance. I know I mentioned 3:2 hybrids, but the most hybrid I'd ever consider purchasing is the Surface Book, because it is more laptop than tablet.

Another problem I have with using a windows tablet as a laptop is that there is too much compromise. Either in the form of taking a typing performance hit with a bluetooth keyboard (lag), or taking up one of the only USB port(s) and having extra wires sticking out with a USB keyboard. Then there is traveling with an extra keyboard, possibly a USB hub, and lap-ability issues especially with all the wires strewn about. You lose so much of the portability compared to sticking with a dedicated tablet or laptop device.

Because 4:3 is dead and you would rather have (well...I would rather have) the aspect ratio that is closest to it in terms of vertical pixels. If they brought back 4:3 for the retro that would be the best, but I'm referring to currently available and actual possibilities given the current crop of 3:2 devices. I can't delude myself into thinking 4:3 is anything but a non-option.

I as a customer, who needs a laptop for work, could not care less about probabilites or likelyhoods (or profit optimisations) of manufacturers. I need and I want a very good 4:3 screen, better than 133DPI, (i.e. 15inch UXGA).

Those 4:3 screens are in use in aviation (means long term spare part availability), as RBS pointed out,
Therefore there is no reason at all, that they could not be available for premium laptops, as a Classic Thinkpad would be.

pianowizard wrote:Would this work: get a 3:2 or even 4:3 Windows tablet, and plug in a Thinkpad USB keyboard? In fact, if you want a really tall screen, use the tablet in portrait orientation. A huge advantage of tablets over laptops is that you can rotate them. Desktop monitors that can rotate also have this advantage over laptops.

In theory, it should be possible to design and build custom Surface Type Cover with trackpoint and good old 7-rows keyboard. AFAIK MS allows for third-party touch/type cover alternatives.

However, this will probably require far more engineering effort than e.g. these LVDS-DP converters used to install modern screens into X220/T420; so I doubt anyone will do it.

penartur wrote:
In theory, it should be possible to design and build custom Surface Type Cover with trackpoint and good old 7-rows keyboard. AFAIK MS allows for third-party touch/type cover alternatives.

However, this will probably require far more engineering effort than e.g. these LVDS-DP converters used to install modern screens into X220/T420; so I doubt anyone will do it.

I'd certainly help finance that. Lack of Trackpoint is one of the more significant things I don't like about my SP4 (probably the biggest is lack of storage and inability to easily replace/upgrade storage device).

jdrou wrote:I'd certainly help finance that. Lack of Trackpoint is one of the more significant things I don't like about my SP4 (probably the biggest is lack of storage and inability to easily replace/upgrade storage device).

I may subscribe to a crowdfunding campaign if by the end of 2017 Lenovo still hasn't outed a decent Thinkpad Classic ; and if the project features both a trackpoint and a classic keyboard.

jdrou wrote:I'd certainly help finance that. Lack of Trackpoint is one of the more significant things I don't like about my SP4 (probably the biggest is lack of storage and inability to easily replace/upgrade storage device).

I may subscribe to a crowdfunding campaign if by the end of 2017 Lenovo still hasn't outed a decent Thinkpad Classic ; and if the project features both a trackpoint and a classic keyboard.

Again, in theory it should be possible for such a ThinkCover to simply feature a mounting brackets/holes for the standard x*20-era keyboard.

However, I doubt that even the entire forum population will make it feasible. And, anyway, someone should hint our chinese friends at 51nb on this idea...

pianowizard wrote:
Would this work: get a 3:2 or even 4:3 Windows tablet, and plug in a Thinkpad USB keyboard? In fact, if you want a really tall screen, use the tablet in portrait orientation. A huge advantage of tablets over laptops is that you can rotate them. Desktop monitors that can rotate also have this advantage over laptops.

I think this may be what I end up with, although I will miss lapability.

TPFanatic wrote:I don't get the point of 3:2. If you're going widescreen may as well go really wide (16:10). If you want less width than 4:3 is that with more height and room for ports.

The point is to seduce manufacturers by pretending to want something that seems somewhat fashionable, namely 3:2 screens, in order to obtain something taller than 16:10. A secret cabal determined that we could no longer have nice things such as 4:3, but an unwieldy compromise such as 3:2 may just be stupid enough and cheap enough to appeal to laptop designers.

There is still no 3:2 laptop (with most of the weight in the base, unlike Surface Book). I have been hoping we might at least get a 360 degree hinged 2-in-1 with 3:2 at some point.

tiorapatea wrote:There is still no 3:2 laptop (with most of the weight in the base, unlike Surface Book).

You are forgetting the Chromebook Pixel. I think I'll do a small review in this forum once I own one to see if it can replace my ThinkPad when combined with Linux. (I have tried ChromeOS previously and swiftly determined that it is crappy)

tiorapatea wrote:There is still no 3:2 laptop (with most of the weight in the base, unlike Surface Book).

You are forgetting the Chromebook Pixel. I think I'll do a small review in this forum once I own one to see if it can replace my ThinkPad when combined with Linux. (I have tried ChromeOS previously and swiftly determined that it is crappy)

Yes, I sort of ignore that because of the soldered (max 64GB) SSD. Also, 12.85 inch screen is way too small for my taste.

tiorapatea wrote:Also, 12.85 inch screen is way too small for my taste.

I felt the same about my 12.5" X220 Tablet display. Until I used a 12.1" X60. Even at XGA* resolution, the aspect ratio has such a huge impact on usability and productivity on smaller screens (< 14").

*I scaled down the size of the icons to emulate having more screen real estate. It helps, but now that I have some time off I can finally get to installing an SXGA+ from a recently acquired X60 Tablet.

JPOESQ wrote:I have a cable for that project from when I was going to convert my display but I never go around to it. If you don't have the cable, and need one, let me know.

That's a very kind offer! Forum member trmsw supplied me with a cable a few months back. Someone else was also requesting it somewhat recently in the marketplace, but if I do the mod again I will definitely keep this in mind.

tiorapatea wrote:Also, 12.85 inch screen is way too small for my taste.

I felt the same about my 12.5" X220 Tablet display. Until I used a 12.1" X60. Even at XGA* resolution, the aspect ratio has such a huge impact on usability and productivity on smaller screens (< 14").

I always wondered why people like high-dpi screens. It seems to me that the point of the higher resolution is so that you can see small details, like text. But if the details like text end up being so small you have to scale the text up to be able to see it, what's the point? I have a 15.6 inch 720p screen and never wanted a higher resolution. I like being able to see things without having to strain, and I have 20/20 vision. I'm genuinely curious how the higher resolution helps.